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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885879">A Rock and a Hard Place</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManicRavingsofaLunatic/pseuds/ManicRavingsofaLunatic'>ManicRavingsofaLunatic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Immortal Husbands Collection [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dismemberment/Extreme trauma, Graphic Description of Injury, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Whump, Temporary Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:27:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,209</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885879</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManicRavingsofaLunatic/pseuds/ManicRavingsofaLunatic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nicky was not allowed to die. </p><p>It was the new unspoken rule ever since that day they had lost him. Andy had started insisting that more missions required long range support, utilising his skill as a sniper as a thinly veiled excuse to keep him back. Booker was just as likely to step in front of Nicky as he was Andy when the bullets started flying and Joe? Well, Joe didn't even hide that he didn't want Nicky on the front lines, arguing ruthlessly against any plan that required it. But this mission had put him between a rock and a hard place - drawing fire as a diversion, or helping Nile cover Andy on the infiltration?</p><p>They were supposed to have had the safer (in terms of anything they do being safe) part of the mission. No one expected the boss to blow himself up.</p><p>Companion piece to 32 Minutes - Post-We Go Together (But not the sequel... sorry)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Immortal Husbands Collection [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872301</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>662</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Rock and a Hard Place</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thanks so much for your wonderful response - this fandom is amazing and it has been a long time since I have been inspired to write this much!</p><p>This fic is set after We Go Together, but is not the sequel (I have scenes, but not plot to string them together) I am very sorry for the delay; but hopefully this will do in the interim.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>BRAZIL - 2021</strong>
</p><p>Nile woke to the horrible smell of smoke, burned hair and barbecue. </p><p>Her clothes were damp with her own blood and the air was thick and cloying in her throat as her broken bones clicked back in to place (never not a weird sensation, no matter how many times it happened). A green light was flashing across the back of her eyelids and it took a good minute for her eardrums to heal and allow the grating of the siren to assault her recovering senses.</p><p>Her gun was in her hand and she was crouched and ready before she had even managed to orientate herself, her eyes squinting against the harsh light in the near-darkness. "Andy, Nicky? You good?" </p><p>Silence.</p><p>"Andy? Andy!" Nile called, panic creeping into her voice. She staggered to her feet, gun raised as she scanned the debris, desperately searching for signs of life. </p><p>For a few months they had been tracking a weapons dealer that was supplying terrorist cells across the world; directed by Copley as they dismantled the network until they had ended up in the middle of the Brazilian jungle. Booker had been playing the part of the buyer with Joe as his muscle - Andy and Nile waiting in the wings as back up with Nicky behind a sniper rifle should things go south. </p><p>But the buy had gone well; Booker had been taken straight to the merchandise and the payment agreed. The exchange due to go down in a few days time once transport had been arranged - leaving a perfect window for the Guard to break in and make sure that the gun runners had a <em>very</em> bad night.</p><p>With Booker and Joe causing a stir in the jungle (with far more C4 than Nile thought strictly necessary, thanks to Booker) Nile, Andy and Nicky had broken into the compound to lay the charges to destroy the entire shipment.</p><p>They were cautious, making sure that Andy was always covered even as she still insisted that she be first, quickly and silently taking down anyone they came across. They had rigged the warehouse first before moving deeper into the compound to make a clean sweep, taking out the boss and checking for intelligence that may point them towards any stragglers in the network.</p><p>Andy had just put a bullet in the ringleader's skull - mission complete - when there came an odd <em>click.</em></p><p>Nile had a moment to see <em>something</em> in the dead man's hand - hear Andy hiss a curse - to see Nicky suddenly <em>move</em> then--</p><p>Then she was flying, unconscious before she hit the bricks that split her skull and killed her instantly. </p><p>The explosion had been more concussive than flaming, the ball bearings and screws inside the bomb causing more damage than the smouldering scorch mark at the epicentre. Parts of the walls had been blown out and the ceiling partially collapsed, allowing at least some starlight through. Nile choked on the dust of the debris, her body still pushing out pieces of shrapnel that clattered on the concrete with every other step she took.</p><p><em>"Fuck.</em> Andy? Nicky?" Nile called again. "One of you better fucking <em>answer me--"</em></p><p>
  <em>"Nnn"</em>
</p><p>Nile held her breath, straining to hear the muffled grunt again, her eyes catching on something shifting in the irritating flashing light. "Andy?"</p><p>"N-Nile."</p><p><em>There.</em> Nile sprinted forward, one quick check of her surroundings before she dropped to a crouch beside a pile of rubble. At first she couldn't tell what she was looking at in the near-blackness, but she spied Andy's dropped handgun - flashlight somehow still attached and working. Clearing the chamber and the clip, she shone the torch through the gap in the rubble and gasped.</p><p>Andy was lying flat on her back unconscious (she had to be unconscious not dead-- definitely <em>not</em> dead--) splatters of dark blood stark across her face, skin washed white by the flashlight. It took Nile a moment to realise that the blood was dripping onto her. She raised the light to it's source to find Nicky hovering over Andy's prone form, not crushing her only by the grace of one arm braced on the ground. </p><p>Stone and wood and metal (part of the wall, ceiling? Hell, could have once been a damn shelving unit) surrounded them on all sides, pushing down on Nicky's back and legs and <em>shit.</em> That was rebar. Through his <em>neck.</em> "N-Nicky?"</p><p>"Nnn," Nicky grunted, blood dripping from his lips. Nile couldn't help but flash back to six months ago, Nicky sprawled across the kitchen table waking again and again only to choke on his own blood.</p><p>"Havet-- have to-- m-move her--" he stammered, the rebar twitching with each movement of his throat (how the <em>fuck</em> was he <em>talking?)</em> "Bfor--Id-- die."</p><p>Nile blanched. Nicky was <em>not</em> allowed to die. It was the new unspoken rule ever since that day they had lost him. Andy had started insisting that more missions required long range support, utilising his skill as a sniper as a thinly veiled excuse to keep him back. Booker was just as likely to step in front of Nicky as he was Andy when the bullets started flying and Joe? Well, Joe didn't even hide that he didn't want Nicky on the front lines, arguing ruthlessly against any plan that required it. This mission had put him between a rock and a hard place - drawing fire as a diversion, or helping Nile cover Andy on the infiltration?</p><p>They were supposed to have had the safer (in terms of anything they do being <em>safe)</em> part of the mission. No one expected the boss <em>to blow himself up.</em></p><p>
  <em>Have to move her before I die.</em>
</p><p>"Shit," Nile hissed. She put the gun down, pointing the flashlight so she could see what she was doing as she carefully started moving the rubble enough to be able to slide Andy out. Nicky was trying very hard to be quiet, but breathing was clearly an issue for him and who knew what other injuries he had that Nile couldn't see. "It's alright, Nicky," she started rambling, trying out the Italian that he had been teaching her. "Just a bit longer, it's alright.."</p><p>Nile managed to clear a space above Andy's head, and reached in to grab her under the arms (don't move victims -- neck and spinal injuries -- <em>fuck</em> -- not a lot of choice is there?) and pulled. She tried to be gentle, but there was some resistance and Andy groaned in pain and--</p><p>"Oh thank fuck you're alive." Nile let out a breath she had no idea she had been holding and tried to tug again Andy free again.</p><p><em>"Ngh-leg,"</em> Andy grumbled, barely conscious. </p><p>Nicky was pale and shaking and not really breathing anymore but he somehow moved <em>something</em> and when Nile pulled again Andy came free, sliding through the blood clotted dust until they were both clear of the rubble. "Nicky, she's clear she's o--"</p><p> The rubble collapsed, burying Nicky from sight.</p><p>"Nicky!" Nile screamed, half scrambling forward as if she could save him before realising there was no point (Andy was mortal -- she could bleed out -- have to check on her, Nicky will heal. Nicky <em>will</em> come back--) and dropping to her knees cursing and quite possibly crying.</p><p>"Nile?" Andy asked, confused and likely concussed. "What--?"</p><p>"Boss blew himself up, tell me where you're hurt," Nile ordered, forcing herself to focus. She grabbed up the abandoned flashlight and shone it down Andy's body, trying to distinguish between her blood and Nicky's. <em>Fuck</em> there was so much blood. Her left leg was broken, her shin bone twisted at a painful angle but thankfully not piercing the skin. There were pockmarks in her clothes, the shrapnel from the bomb having caught the sides of her legs and arms where Nicky hadn't been able to completely cover her. Blood covered the back of her neck and dribbled from her nose. Head wound. (That was bad that was <em>very</em> bad--)</p><p>"Where's Nicky?" Andy slurred, actually trying to get up before seeming to realise that that was a <em>terrible</em> idea. Nile glanced over at the rubble pile and gritted her teeth. She yanked some gauze out of her pack and wadded it up to press against Andy's head wound while giving her another once over. She was breathing, conscious, coherent, not about to imminently bleed out "Keep pressure, I'll get Nicky free - he's gonna be fine."</p><p>"Joe?"</p><p>"Joe's not here," Nile replied, disconcerted. "He was with Booker, they were the distraction."</p><p>Andy went to shake her head, winced, then flopped a hand up near her ear. "No - Joe. Tell Joe."</p><p><em>The radios.</em> Nile almost slapped herself for forgetting about their comms - Joe and Booker would have heard the explosion, and then they had gone radio silent and <em>fuck</em> Joe must be losing his <em>shit.</em> Nile reached up to trigger her mic, before realising it was cracked and lifeless. She touched her ear to turn it on at the earpiece and found that missing too. Not just the earpiece - her whole <em>ear,</em> the cartilage slowly reforming under her fingers (how the hell had she not <em>noticed</em> that?) </p><p>Andy's comms were apparently working, so Nile quickly stole them and fitted them to her working (existing) ear. Joe's panicked voice immediately echoed over the static demanding that <em>Nicky-Andy-Nile-somebody talk to me!</em></p><p>"We're here," Nile announced. "Joe, we're here. Andy's alive but hurt, the boss blew himself up - Nicky... Nicky's gonna be fine. I'm getting him now."</p><p><em>"Where are you?"</em> Booker. Joe was probably already running, had been since the explosion most likely. How far in to the jungle had they gone to draw out the gun runners? How long had it actually been since the bomb had gone off? Nile rattled of their last known location, not entirely sure how far they had been blasted and with everything around them too unrecognisable to identify.</p><p>"They're on their way," Nile informed Andy, earning a short nod and grimace of pain in return.</p><p>Nile then climbed to her feet, grabbing up the flashlight to try and figure out the best way to clear the rubble. She started pulling at chunks of concrete and metal bars and shards of wood, tossing them aside as she dug. She had freed Nicky's arm from where it had sprawled outwards when he had collapsed and was just clearing his head when she heard footsteps approaching.</p><p>Instantly Nile had her gun in her hand, aimed and ready, only lowering it when the silhouettes in the smoke coalesced into Booker and Joe.</p><p>Joe was <em>distraught.</em> Eyes wide and panicked and breath coming in short, sharp pants. He was only a step away from the broken man that had held a lifeless Nicky in his arms, facing an eternity without the other half of his soul. His eyes flickered to Andy, taking in her vulnerable and hurt state, but thankfully Booker headed straight for her, taking the conflict away. Without pause, Joe dropped down next to Nile reaching a hand out to run his finger's through Nicky's hair. "Nicolo-- come back to me."</p><p>Nile continued pulling rubble away, Joe quickly joining her until Nicky was completely clear.</p><p>"Holy shit."</p><p>Nicky was a mess. His back had been completely shredded by the shrapnel bomb, going so far as to expose bone and part of his spine. The back of his skull was crushed - hair matted with fragments - his neck and shirt soaked in blood. The piece of rebar had pierced through the back of his neck and through his throat. His legs were broken (but starting to heal - twitching and cracking back to the right angle - <em>he's healing)</em> and his arm was missing.</p><p>No, that was an understatement. His arm had been ripped off, taking his shoulder blade and a near quarter of his torso with it. (Oh <em>fuck</em> -- that's... that's his <em>lung)</em></p><p>Joe was talking quietly, the old-old Italian that Nicky wouldn't teach her (Joe and Nicky's language, just for them) slipping from his lips in a comforting babble as he took hold of the rebar and yanked it free.</p><p>Nile couldn't stop staring, her stomach churning with nausea as she watched a thin layer of skin slowly grow over the missing piece. It was the most disgusting and disturbingly fascinating thing she had ever seen - a near-white sheen of gelatinous tissue spreading from the torn edges and meeting in the middle, creating a translucent film over the exposed flesh. It looked a bit like scar tissue, but newer, protecting what remained until new bones and muscles could grow (they would grow right? Did they grow back? Like her eye? Fuck, why had she never <em>asked</em> this before?)</p><p>Joe gave a small smile, and Nile realised that Nicky had blinked. He didn't gasp back to life (probably couldn't. He only had one working lung. He only had <em>one lung)</em> just silently slipped back into the waking world. His jaw worked, body struggling to remember how to breathe, before coughing to clear the blood from his throat.</p><p>Joe was gentle with him, oh so gentle, coaching Nicky through breathing in shallow wheezes and brushing off the shrapnel that was slowly pushed from the wounds on his back. </p><p>Nicky was slower to heal now, Nile had noticed. Ever since the bullets that had left him with permanent scars. She thinks the others know too (how could they not -- that bullet graze in Berlin had taken a near ten minutes to disappear completely--) but no one spoke of it. Just like no one spoke of Andy's mortality. They protected, they shielded, they worried, but no one wanted to put words to what it could <em>mean.</em> </p><p>Joe rolled Nicky over onto his side, lifting him up so he was cradled in Joe's lap with his head against Joe's shoulder. The holes in the neck had sealed closed, his legs almost straight again, his skull nearly the right shape. </p><p>"I've called Copley," Booker announced into the silence. He held Andy in a mirror image, pressing the gauze to the back of her head. He had fitted a brace around her broken leg, fashioned from scraps of wood and their belts. She was still conscious, but her attention was drifting with the occasional wince of pain (they had nearly lost her-- If Nicky hadn't--) "He's sending a chopper with medevac, but we've got to get to a clearing 2 clicks from here."</p><p>Joe didn't look up from Nicky, but he nodded. "How long do we have?"</p><p>"Two hours," Booker answered. "Have we got enough morphine for him?"</p><p>Joe grimaced and held up a smashed vial that he had taken from the med kit at Nicky's back. The med kit that had been <em>crushed</em> when he was.   </p><p>"Shit." Booker cursed. "And he won't be fully healed by the time we get there either. I don't know how we'll explain him growing back, but at least they'll have pain relief."</p><p>"So he will uh, grow back?" Nile asked awkwardly.</p><p>Joe hummed, gently petting Nicky's hair as he groaned in pain, a full breath finally escaping his lips (two lungs again). Booker frowned, recalling an unpleasant memory. "Once the other injuries have healed, he will start to grow back. And it's going to be <em>fucking</em> painful." At Nile's questioning look he shrugged. "Joe, Vietnam, landmine."</p><p>Nile's eyes widened as she turned to look at Joe, horrified by the image her mind had conjured up.</p><p>"We need to move. Andy needs to be kept stable, I have no idea if there are any hidden injuries and I don't want to find out," Booker said, his eyes flicking between them all as he tried to figure out logistics. "Nile, you'll have to help me with the litter."</p><p>"But Nicky--"</p><p>"I can walk," Nicky grumbled, voice hoarse and muffled against Joe's shoulder. "It's my arm, not my legs."</p><p>(And part of his chest)</p><p>"Nicolo--" Joe murmured worriedly, but Nicky cut him off with a look. A silent conversation passed between, taking place entirely in facial expressions and pointed stares and glances over at Andy. Joe sighed. "I'll take point."</p><p>With quick efficiency they prepared to move. Andy was carefully transferred on to a litter materialised from Booker's pack and Joe wrapped Nicky in his jacket to cover the odd healing skin. Nicky managed to stand on his own (his legs still didn't look right-- so <em>slow</em> to heal--) but something shifted under the jacket, a loud <em>crack,</em> and he would have kissed the concrete if it wasn't for Joe. </p><p>"I've got you," Joe whispered, a foreign pet name pressed to the shell of Nicky's ear as he pulled Nicky back to his feet and ducked under his arm to support him. Nicky's face was contorted in pain, his teeth gritted tightly to bite back a scream. Joe continued to talk him through it (his ribs were growing back, his torso gradually starting to take the right shape with each <em>snap</em> and <em>pop</em> of bone) and held his gun ready in his free hand.</p><p>Andy made a grumpy noise, and Nile almost smiled at her as she assessed the set-up. It was not ideal; it left them with one gun and no rear guard - vulnerable in a way they couldn't afford to be but had not choice in. She made a grabby hand motion at Nile's chest where her rifle was clipped. "Gun."</p><p>Booker huffed a laugh and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like <em>I always knew she was a cavewoman</em> then nodded at Nile. Andy with a concussion would still be quicker to the draw than Nile with her hands full of precious cargo.</p><p>Joe took point, leading them down the trail with Nicky pressed against his side. Booker led the litter, leaving Nile at the rear as they traipsed through the thick humid jungle, dawn rising to greet them. It was slow going as they walked in as near-silence as they could - Andy couldn't help the occasional grunt when her broken leg was jostled and she must have had the mother of all headaches; and Nicky kept staggering, screams that had been suppressed down to short whimpers escaping with each <em>crack</em> of bone.</p><p>Joe looked to be in just as much agony, as if any pain Nicky felt stabbed his heart just as surely. The grip he had around Nicky's waist to keep him moving was white-knuckled and tensed, but he somehow managed to keep his attention on their surroundings. </p><p>They made it to the landing site just as the helicopter arrived, coming to a hover in the clearing. The downwash blasted them as they headed towards it, two of the helmeted crew jumping down to help them board. Andy's stretcher was secured, a medic quickly crouched beside her to check her over, as the others were directed to the space at the rear. In moments the doors were closed and they were in the air, the jungle starting to shrink beneath them.</p><p>One of the crew handed Booker a headset so that they could be heard over the roar of the engine. Nile could just read <em>any other casualties?</em> from his lips, Booker answering in the negative. </p><p>The crewman looked at Nicky, shaking and clammy and quite clearly in pain, but they couldn't let the medic near him. How the hell could they explain that he was in pain because <em>his arm was growing back?</em> No, too many people already knew about what they were. Nile purposely positioned herself in front of Nicky, shielding the twitches and movements of the re-growing limb from the crews' view. Nicky was trying his best not to look like he needed immediate medical attention, but when that failed he simply pressed his face into Joe's neck, playing it as an emotional breakdown to explain the shakes.</p><p>Booker said something which the crewman seemed to buy, and then used the natural movement of the helicopter to swing forward and back. He dropped down next to Nile, reaching behind her to pass something to Joe. Nile didn't look, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that Booker had just palmed something from the open kit next to the medic tending to Andy, but after a few moments some of the tension finally drained from Nicky's pain-wracked body. Morphine.</p><p>After a while the medic started talking, sound stolen by the engine, but Booker nodding to the headset. When the medic was done, Booker spoke directly into Nile's ear "Concussion, bruised ribs, broken tibia and fibula. She's gonna be okay." For Joe he flashed an OK sign, to which Joe smiled gratefully before relaying the information to Nicky, who was still curled against him in pain even with the shot.</p><p>Copley was at the airfield when they landed, leaning against a silver SUV and wearing a pair of shades. Andy was quickly rolled to the waiting ambulance, Booker climbing in with her before the door was slammed shut. Nile watched as they drove away, concern furrowing her brow before Joe nudged her towards the SUV. She climbed in the front beside Copley, Joe helping Nicky into the back so that he could keep an arm around him.</p><p>"They're taking Andy to the nearest hospital for scans and to set her leg," Copley explained as he turned the key in the ignition (not even a hello) "They'll probably need to keep her overnight for observation, but the medic seemed positive. I've set them up with the alias of husband and wife so that Booker will be allowed access and kept in the loop."</p><p>Nile snickered. "Thanks, Andy will love that."</p><p>"I was going to go with Nicky being her brother but Booker said he wouldn't be going with her and <em>holy fucking shit."</em></p><p>Nile turned in her seat to see Copley with his jaw practically on the floor. It was a good thing he hadn't actually started driving because he would have thrown them off the road. Nile looked to the back seat where Joe had lifted the jacket from Nicky's side to check on the progress. His chest was now whole, not a mark aside from the bullet scars that were just visible at the edge of Nicky's torn shirt. His shoulder had grown too, but only the very top of the humerus was starting to push against the thin membrane.</p><p>"Just a few more hours," Joe muttered quietly to Nicky in Italian, pulling the jacket back in place. "It will be over soon."</p><p>Nicky grunted in both pain and frustration, eyes flicking to where Copley was still staring.</p><p>"You grow back," he said dumbly. "You actually <em>grow</em> back."</p><p>Something a little bit like fear danced across Nicky's face, eyes growing distant as a memory replayed. He had heard those words before - the same awe and disbelief - and Nile's mind flashed to Merrick's lab and Dr Kozak. (Oh. Oh <em>shit.</em> Of course she tested whether they could grow back). Nicky reached for Joe's hand as if to remind himself it was still there.</p><p>Joe kicked the back of Copley's chair. "Drive." </p><p>"Right, right - sorry," Copley shook his head, a genuinely apologetic look on his face as he turned back in his seat and put the car in drive. The journey to the safehouse passed in silence, nothing aside from the odd grunt from Nicky as the morphine wore off, and Joe's quiet whispered assurances.</p><p>Copley's safehouses were always ridiculously modern - architectural wonders with no personality but amazing security systems - and the Brazil one was no different. Outside of town, but not cut off from civilization, the estate boasted 5 bedrooms, a kitchen with all the mod cons, a swimming pool and <em>very</em> high fences. Copley dropped them off, promising to keep them informed of any changes with Andy, and disappeared.</p><p>Joe helped Nicky to the sofa, pressing a kiss to his forehead before hunting down the well stocked med kit they had started to keep at every safehouse (Nicky had spent a good two months travelling around the world after the amateur surgery debacle - grumbling the whole time about how fucking unprepared they were when they had a <em>mortal)</em> and coming back with painkillers.</p><p>Nile dropped herself in to the armchair in exhaustion and watched through drowsy eyes as Joe made sure that Nicky was comfortable - constantly touching him to reassure himself that Nicky was there and alive and (mostly) whole. </p><p>"I'm here, love," Nicky muttered in Arabic tucking himself against Joe's shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, curled together until Nicky was deep enough in a drug haze to actually look mildly comfortable. His arm was nearly reaching to the elbow, and Joe was running his fingers gently over the new skin.</p><p>"We'll need to get some food in you," Joe said after a while. Nicky made a grumpy noise, his expression clearly saying he never wanted to move ever again. Joe smiled fondly at the sound and picked a bit of bone out of Nicky's hair. "And get you cleaned up too."</p><p>Nicky mumbled something petulant and buried deeper against Joe's side. </p><p>Joe laughed. "Come now, you are about to sleep for a week, and you'll be miserable if you wake up covered in dried blood and bone fragments."</p><p>Nicky shrugged. "You'll take care of me."</p><p>"Of course I will, my love."</p><p><br/>
 </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading!</p><p>If anyone has any prompts/ideas/scenes they would like to see let me know!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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